News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-10-20

forward and | heard some of them beg
ging for mercy. The officers followed
them, evidently determined to wreal
driven to the windlass that the mel
turned. It was case of self-defence
[ could not we'll see what followed. Bu
! [ heard pistol shots, savage cries, E
great struggle, and, as it now came OF
dead calm, l left the wheel and raj
forward. All was over when [ got tc
the foremost The three officers were
dead or dying, Herbert and another
sailor were dead, and Cf the remainder
of the men at least five We're seriously
wounded. The mutiny had not LASTED
above five minutes. For a long time
after I reached the bow the men stood
looking around them without uttering g
word Then, at last, Yankee sailor
named Ben Lobdell, who had bullet in
/ his left shoulder, stood out little from
the rest and said:
'sMates, we have been driven to mutiny
and murder. Aye, every man of you
| knows we had to turn to save our own
! lives against these officers lying dead.
1t has all come about through the bad
grub. L shall now order the cook to
prepare us breakfast, and after that is
eaten we shall consult as to what is to
be done. Meanwhile, as in duty bound,
[ will set a signal of distress"
The steward got the flag from the
locker in the cabin and it was properly
set. Then the hurts of the wounded
were looked to, and by that time break
| fast was ready. 1t was served in ou1
dishes and eaten on deck, and not a man
of us had word to say. Just as we
were finishing the cook and steward
came out in company and hoped we
would spare their lives. Ben got up
and replied:
Don't take us for either mutineers or
murderers. What has been done was
! only in self-defence. The life of every
man here is as safe as in his own home.
Now, then, the first thing is to see who
of the poor fellows lying on the decks
has bit of life left in him.
The Captain and first mate were dead
enough, as was the case with the two
sailors, but the second mate had life in
him. When the men were driven to
bay they turned and used their sheath
knives and the capstan bars. The sec
ond mate had his left arm broken and
and had received two stabs. We took
him down to his berth, removed his
clothes, and dressed his hurts, and
when the steward had prepared him a
drink he opened his eyes, and when he
found that we were in possession of the
ship he said, in the presence of four
men:
81 expected it would come out this
way, but [ had to obey orders. While
you have done for me I bear you no
grudge. If you will draw up a state
men of how it came about [ will sign
it.
[ drew up a statement of fact, and
the mate, who hadn't two hours to live,
affixed his signature, and it was followed
by the name of every man in the ship.
Refore noon he was dead, and after din
ner we buried all the bodies and made
the ship tidy. By mutual consent Ben
was made captain, and n sailor named
Jack Wonder was selected as mate. It
was our purpose to sail the ship back
to Glasgow, and not man was allowed
in the cabin, nor were any of the stores
diStHrbed, except the provisions. The
signal was kept flying all day, but owing
to the calm we did not move half mile
Just at sundown steamer came up
with us, sent a boat aboard, and when
told of what had happened she put sew
eral men aboard and got out tow line
and made fast to us. It was thus we
returned to port, and the news of our
arrival and the mutiny kicked up grand
excitement. We were at once put under
arrest, as we expected to be, and for
the first week or two all the talk was to
the effect that every man of us would
be hanged. 1t didn't seem to occur to
the people at large that we could have
any defence, and we were condemned
long enough before the trial came on.
The owners of the ship were rich as
well as penurious, and they wanted us
executed as a warning to other sailors.
However, when the trial came on the
general public got something to open
their eyes. Our lawyers had had the
provisions inspected by medical men,
and had saved samples for the jury.
The medical gentlemen affirmed that no
human stomach could retain such pro-
visions, and recommended that the
owners be promptly prosecuted. Then
we had the name of the mate to the
statement of facts, the testimony of the
steward and cook, and it was shown that
we had set signal and behaved our
selves in an orderly way
The case was decided in ten minutes,
and every man of us was set at liberty.
There was talk of suits against the ship
owners, but they sent an agent around
to each one of us with e1O note, and
we made no move against them. Our
trial and the facts brought out brought
to light other facts, one of which was
that British sailors were treated worse
than ours and were fed mostly on con-
demned stores. A social and political
agitation resulted, and from ii grew the
Government inspectors and the laws
which give sailors back the rights of a
human being. The move which Plim-
soil made against overlooking was an
offshoot of our mutiny, and have heard
it declared that our adventure was the
best thing which could have happened
for sailors on any ocean